The Parthenon Made of Books

Rising from the ground of the Friedrichsplatz of Kassel, Germany, where in 1933 Nazis gathered up and burned all the books by Jewish or Marxist writers, is a spectacular full-size replica of the Parthenon — made of over 100,000 banned books. The monumental structure, entitled “The Parthenon of Books,” is a political and artistic statement against censorship created by Argentine pop artist Marta Minujin to be the showpiece at Documenta, a contemporary art show for emerging artists that is held in Kassel every five years. The structure, measuring 70 meters in length and 10 meters high consists of 46 metal grill columns that are covered in books, each individually wrapped in plastic to protect it from the elements. Last year, Minujin and a team of volunteers reviewed a list of more than 70,000 banned books that spanned the period between the Protestant Reformation to apartheid in South Africa to come up with 170 titles that would be utilized in the temple’s final construction. Some of the titles include: the Bible, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Little Prince, The Satanic Verses, and The First Circle. But don’t expect to see Hitler’s Mein Kampf that was excluded for obvious reasons. Documenta will run through September 17; after the show closes, the books will be distributed to the public.